Happy Halloween

Halloween is my favorite holiday.  On the surface it seems like a day for children but I believe it gives the rest of us a chance to feel like a kid again.  It is part of the fall season which I have already mentioned as my favorite time of year. 

I like to decorate for Halloween at the beginning of October.  This involves removing some of the fall decorations I just set out a month before.  Once Halloween is over I bring those decorations out again plus add the few Thanksgiving decorations I have.  Those of you who know me are not surprised by this OCD behavior.  

As a child I remember dressing up as a black cat, skeleton, ghost and Frankenstein complete with battery-operated red bolts at my neck.  One year I trick or treated in a red devil outfit my cousin Danny had worn the year before.  My choice of costumes verifies that I was a bit of a tomboy; no Cinderella or Minnie Mouse here.   

We could hardly wait for the sun to go down and I don't ever remember being accompanied by an adult.  I had older cousins and we went as a group.  We traveled blocks from home.  Of course this was eons ago and an entirely different time.

The variety of offerings we received ran the gamut.  At one house we might be given a penny; at another an apple.  My least favorite was a solitary walnut or peanut.  I remember one old lady answering the door with a brown bag in her hand.  She dipped a "teaspoon" into the bag and dropped a couple of kernels of popcorn into my trick or treat bag.  I'll never forget that.  My aunt and uncle's neighbor made peanut butter cookies each year and some people gave out popcorn balls.  As I said this was a different time.   

Sometimes we would be asked in by the person answering the door so their spouse could see our costumes.  We would go in!  I remember being a bit apprehensive but I did it anyway.  This would be unheard of today.  Luckily for us we only encountered good people.

After a couple of hours we trudged home, tired yet eager to look over our bounties.  One year we were chased home by the neighborhood bullies, two brothers who lived on the next street.  They were trying to steal our trick or treat bags.  We made it to the safety of my Grandma's house goodies still in hand.

The first ten years in this house I baked a table full of cupcakes, cookies and pumpkin bread for family, friends and their children each Halloween.  Some of my daycare parents would return with their children to participate in the festivities which included bobbing for apples.  As the years passed the number of people attending my Halloween party declined and on year ten nobody came.  When my friend Molly called to say she wasn't coming, I told her I wouldn't be doing it again.  True to my word I didn't bake the next year.  When my son Jordan and I returned from trick or treating the phone rang.  It was Molly.  She said you were serious about not baking weren't you?  She and her children had come over and when no one answered the door she peeked through my dining room window and saw the bare table.

A few years ago I began hosting a different kind of party now that the children are grown.  I bake a few goodies but the star of the event is a pot of garbanzo soup.  It is my grandma's recipe and my mom, son, aunties, cousins and friends gather at my dining table to enjoy a meal that warms their tummies and the cockles of my heart.

My Favorite Season

Autumn is my favorite time of the year. I like the colors, the weather and the holidays. For me, fall is a time of new beginnings. That probably goes back to my childhood and the start of school. At that time school began near the end of September because of the prune season. Many families picked prunes and they needed their children's help as well. I still can’t get used to school starting before August is even over.

I remember a more definite change in seasons. The weather was a little cooler than summer and the sun cast longer shadows. School clothes were wool skirts and cardigan sweaters for the girls and boys still wore jeans but with plaid shirts or striped tees. My mom always bought me oxford shoes which I detested. I had big feet and I thought those shoes made my feet look even bigger. One year she bought me plain white when I wanted the two-tone type the other girls were wearing. I felt like I might as well wear the shoe boxes.

I entered third grade after a summer of listening to rock and roll on my transistor radio. For those of you under 60 my radio was about the size of a pack of cigarettes. I had developed a habit of humming. I didn't realize I was doing it until my teacher pointed it out to me.....several times.

There was never a mystery about who our teachers would be.  There were two classes for each grade and most teachers stayed year after year. Going into fourth grade I expected Mrs. Purdy would be my teacher. Her stern demeanor had given her a reputation of being mean. She had a shock of white near the front of her otherwise dark hair which earned her the nickname of "skunky Purdy." I was really dreading fourth grade. Before class on the first day of school I had to stop by the foyer to learn my class assignment. To my surprise I was scheduled with a Mrs. Josephine. I was cautiously optimistic until I entered the classroom and saw the familiar black and white hair. My teacher was Mrs. "Josephine" Purdy.

The type of food we eat changes with the seasons. Summer barbecues and light suppers give way to comfort foods like stews, soups, casseroles and roasts. I was a picky eater as a child. I didn't like vegetables at all. I remember walking in the door after school and smelling the aroma of beef stew or stuffed bell peppers which my grandma had spent hours cooking. I would sit at the table, arms crossed and pout. I'm sure my grandma fixed me something else. Luckily I grew out of that stage. I just wish my grandma was still here so I could enjoy all the foods I refused back then.

It's funny how payback works. When my son was a child he’d come in to the kitchen where I was cooking what I thought was a delicious meal.  He would lift each lid to check the contents then look at me and ask, "What am I going to eat?"

I like to bake and fall is the best time for that. I especially like to make sweet breads, cakes and crisps. Pumpkin or carrot bread, carrot or applesauce cake and apple crisp are some of my favorites. 

Decorating for holidays is another of my passions.  I bring down my fall bins at the beginning of September.  I take out each newspaper-wrapped decoration with a mixture of excitement and nostalgia.  The beautiful colors add so much warmth to my home.

For me fall marks the beginning of “the holidays” although Halloween is the first major holiday we celebrate in autumn.   The time goes by quickly and Thanksgiving soon follows.  As a matter of fact do you realize there are only 78 shopping days until Christmas?